Woven fabric with locked selvage



Dec. 20, 1949 c. F. LIBBY- 2,492,051

WOVEN FABRIC WITH LOCKED SELVAGE Filed April 21', 1.948

Patented Dec. 20, 1949 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE wovEN FABRIC WITHLooks]: SEWAGE Carl F. Libby, Stoughton, Mass.

Application April 21, 1948, Serial No. 22,336

4 Claims. 1

This invention relates to a woven fabric in which the selvages aresecurely locked against raveling. The invention relates moreparticularly to narrow fabrics such as belts, elastic bands and thelike, which are woven on shuttleless looms. In looms Of thisdescription, the weft thread or threads are inserted into the shed inloops. In a single thread fabric these loops extend from one of thesides to the other side of the warp, the ends of the loops beingsuccessively knitted together. Where two weft threads are used, theloops are projected through the warp shed alternately from the two sidesof the warp, the loop ends at each side of the fabric being successivelyknitted to form a selvage. Fabrics of this description are frequentlymade of rayon weft threads, which are relatively smooth and slippery, sothat they ravel easily whenever a break occurs. It is an object of thepresent invention to lock the selvages securely so as to avoid ravelingin case a weft yarn breaks. For this pur pose an extensible elasticselvage thread is knitted into each selvage together with the weftthread loops which are knitted into such selvage. The selvage threadsare knitted when stretched to a state of considerable extension so thatwhen the tension is released in the finished fabric, these selvagethreads contract and tightly bind the weft thread or threads knittedtherewith.

For a more complete understanding of the invention, reference may be hadto the following description thereof and to the drawing, of which thefigure is a conventionalized showing of a fabric in the process of beingwoven.

The fabric illustrated on the drawing is similar in thread arrangementto a fabric shown in my copending application, Serial No. 738,447, filedMarch 31, 1947, pursuant to which Patent No. 2,471,758 was granted March31, 1949. This fabric comprises a suitable number of warp threads II],which are guided through heddles, not shown, so as to form a shed whichchanges after each loop of weft thread has been projected therethrough.Two fingers l2 and M are provided to project the weft threads IE and I8across the warp in successive loops which are projected alternately fromthe two sides of the warp, the loops of the thread l5 being projectedfrom the left side of the warp, the loops of the thread is beingprojected from the right side. In addition to the weft threads l6 andI8, selvage threads 20 and 22 are provided, suitable guides 24 and 2%being provided for these threads. According to the invention the selvagethreads 20 and 22 are extensible and elastic. For this purpose, a veryfine rubber thread, preferably covered with cotton or rayon, isemployed. These threads are capable of a relatively high degree ofextension and are substantially stretched during the weaving operation.As each loop of weft thread is projected across the warp, the end of theloop is caught on a knitting needle 30 or 32, which is supported in sucha manner as to reciprocate alongside of one of the selvages, a needlebeing provided for each selvage. The needle thereupon catches the otherweft thread and the selvage thread which is on the same side with it.These three threads are then knitted together as a triple loop throughthe previously formed triple loop of the same threads. When the tensionon the selvage thread or threads is relieved, these thread loopscontract, thereby pinching and twisting the other threads in theselvages and thus effectively locking the selvages against raveling incase of breakage of any of the threads.

The drawing shows a fabric having knitted selvages along both side edgesthereof, the loops in each selvage being composed of three threads, anextensible elastic selvage thread being supplied on each side of thefabric to be knitted with the weft threads into the selvages. It is notalways necessary to employ two selva/ge threads nor to employ two weftthreads. For example, the selvage thread 20 may be omitted in making afabric, the other threads being woven and knitted as shown; or theselvage thread 20 and the weft thread l8 may be omitted, in which casethe finger l4 and the needle 30 would be idle. In both of theseexamples, the selvage thread 22 would be substantially stretched whenbeing knitted and would firmly bind the selvage loops of weft threadswhen the stretching tension was relieved.

I claim:

1. A woven fabric having a warp, a weft thread extending across the warpin successive loops, the ends of said loops being successively knittedto form a selvage, and an extensible elastic selvage thread knitted witheach said loop end of weft thread in said selvage, whereby each knittedloop in the selvage is composed of at least two threads.

2. A woven fabric having a warp, two weft threads extending in loopsacross the warp alternately from opposite sides of the warp. ends ofsuccessive loops on each side of the warp being successively knitted toform selvages, and an extensible elastic selvage thread on each side ofthe warp knitted in with the weft thread p ends on the same side of thewarp, whereby each knitted loop in both selvages is composed of at leasttwo threads.

3. A woven fabric having a warp, two weft threads extending in loopsacross the warp alternately from opposite sides of the warp, and aselvage thread at each side of the warp, said fabric having along eachside edge thereof a selvage composed of three-thread knitted loops eachof which includes the end of a loop of weft thread from the far side ofthe warp together with the weft thread and selvage thread on the nearside.

4. A woven fabric having a warp, two weft threads extending in loopsacross the warp alternately from opposite sides of the warp, and anextensible elastic selvage thread at each side of the warp, said fabrichaving along each side edge 5 thread on the near side.

CARL F. LIBBY.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the m file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Name Date Clutsom Jan. 24, 1939 Number

